Today's #April3030 prompt:
Write a poem in which your parents send you a box of stuff you left at their house and you, as a result, "unpack your childhood." Bonus points if the box includes memories, feelings, and/or a horse.
Today's #April3030 prompt is a play on an ode:
Think of a significant event in your life--a birth, a funeral, a break up, a disastrous birthday, your wedding--and write an ode about that day in the form of an actor giving an acceptance speech at the Oscar’s. Thank people, things, weather, etc.
My fifth #April3030 prompt (lol yes I am behind):
"Zeus’ Ham on Rye"
Think of a powerful, mythological figure, monster, deity, villain, or hero. Tell us what they pack themselves for lunch. Try to lean into the mundane to juxtapose the fantastical.
Yard Sale If my mom held a yard sale of herself, I would snap up all the broken curfews, all the missed calls, and even the calls I made from the institution. I would go further back, even, before me, take getting pregnant at 17 off her hands for a quarter. I’d buy her collection of marrying the wrong men but I’d haggle over the price. She’d happily unload the bad memories of her mother but leave all the good on the table so she’ll still have happy stories to tell little me at bedtime. I’d take my mother’s secrets, the dark things she never told along with all the rest and throw it in the river and let it sink into the soggy mud, never to be seen again.
#April3030 a lil poem about my mom 🧓
My fourth #April3030 prompt:
"Yard Sale of the Self"
Imagine a Yard Sale being hosted by friends and family, but, in addition to their old stuff, they're also selling memories, nightmares, dreams. What do you buy? If you're there selling stuff, what is it you're trying to get rid of?
Dumpster Diving Can Be Addictive We used to say "it's impossible to starve in America." But it's gotten dangerous. The other day, I found a single ruby slipper. I hate to think what might have happened to its mate. If I found it, I'd have to try them out. Not looking. Can't stop looking.
From one of @toddedillard.bsky.social's prompts for #April3030
Today's #April3030 morphed into a micro-fiction instead.
Today’s #April3030 prompt:
Think of a unique pair of shoes, and then situate them in an inappropriate place: ballet shoes at the beach, wellingtons at a ball, Spice Girls platform shoes at a funeral. Write a poem about how the wearer moves through this “incorrect” space and makes it their own.
Break Time at the Sadness Factory the gears of mourning shudder to a stop machines of grief flash troubleshooting codes prefabricated longing cracks and pops beneath the weight of one too many loads the shadows lurking in all fitful dreams dissolve to starlings, and their murmurings do swoop into the air and nest on beams each silent save the ruffle of their wings saltwater tears begin to leak from drums they pool and churn round spilled regrets to make icy gelato spotted with tart plums I lick the spoon until my teeth all ache through broken window wafts a late spring breeze I find the shattered glass, escape with ease
Really enjoying #April3030 this year
#April3030
The maintenance crew
at the Sadness factory
go home and craft despair
into their beers.
By day they pour
their craft into the feeding tubes
of the Sadness extruders.
At lunch in the break room
they can't help bursting into
forbidden giggles.
This is the whole problem!
Day 2 down with a shall we say middling prose poem. 🤷♀️ Sometimes sitting down is the most important part. It's all reps! #April3030
How To Unmake a Bed Strip off the furtive touches in the dark clinging to the duvet, remove the late night giggles still crusted on the pillow case, cleanse the scent of sweat and sex from sheets, now toss the mixture of tears and sugar onto the floor, never mind the years that have accumulated under the bed, don’t look or they will all come tumbling out like beads from a cut string, don’t look or you will crumble under the weight of forgotten prayers. Machine wash on delicate and tumble dry.
Another notes app poem for #April3030
I once laid my head
on a bed
where JFK once slept
it was quite sordid
a tale I'll never tell
there's monsters
under the bed
#April3030
#NationalMonthOfPoetry
My 2nd prompt for National Poetry Month and #April3030!
Imagine a bed--one shared w a lover, one a loved one who passed had, a historical figure's, etc. Write a poem "unmaking" the bed--ripping off the bedding, but also breaking it apart. End the poem w finding something of theirs "under" the bed.
the sadness factory
a creak of aches and bones
levels of prize
destinations unknown
faded ghosts and
beams of sunshine
clouded by
romance plays
of yesterday
daily participation
of a dangling participle
the tin on the ceiling crows
#April3030
April 30/30 - Prompt the First Reasons for Required Maintenance at the Sadness Factory Assembly line clogged with magnolia blossoms The foreman dreamed of an orange Corvette A perfect cup of coffee was found tucked into the gears of the mourning-shaper For days the wailing machine spun mothers' lullabies instead
Happy National Poetry Month! Here's my first #April3030 prompt (I'll use this hashtag throughout the month)
Imagine a factory that, in various strange and surreal ways, manufactures sadness. Now write a poem cataloguing reasons for required maintenance at the sadness factory.
Be weird!
